Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Obama Administration's 2014 budget includes $104 million set aside to jumpstart a curious NASA program. At first glance, the press release claiming NASA plans to put together an effort to lasso an asteroid seems a little trite in its claim. I, for one, can't get out of my head the image of a giant Yosemite Sam-cyborg hollering and yahoo-ing (silently, as we're in space) while corralling a hurtling asteroid. And I suspect this is some cartoonish association NASA is trying to accomplish with the announcement, as if the hope is the bizarre phrasing of the goal somehow disarms the lack of a precedent for it.

But that is, indeed what the mission is: by 2021, NASA plans to have harnessed an asteroid for not only exploration, but also as a way of planting them in the moon's gravitational orbit, thereby giving future space missions (to Mars, finger crossed) a natural satellite base.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, left to right, Firouz Naderi, Director for the Solar System Exploration, and John Brophy, Electric Propulsion Engineer, are shown during Bolden's visit to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., Thursday, May 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

It's an incredibly extensive, yet resourceful, idea. Working within the constraints of a criminally small budget, NASA figured out a way to create a station stop on the way to Mars that's cheap to maintain and also may contain resources and raw material in itself that would serve a myriad of purposes, from gold and rare metals to ice water. Oh yeah, and if it proves successful, it will serve as a blueprint for capturing an asteroid that could threaten to extinguish all life on Earth. What is that, three birds with one stone, right?

To me, though (or should I say to my employers, because this is a blog about manufacturing) the real interesting benefit to the mission has nothing to do with the end results of Mars or the Moon, but with how the technology will be used. And that involves xenon-fueled ion thrusters. Yep. Ion rockets. Why is this a big deal and what does it have to do with manufacturing? Here's why:

It's no secret the future of space and any industry having to do with it will include private investment and capability. NASA has all but given the Moonto private firms who want to land there, and they're more than likely going to need private funding for steps in the engineering process. This includes the ion-powered thrusters that will be crucial to the feat of getting a spacecraft mobile enough to catch a floating rock.

Xenon is a colorless, odorless gas that, when charged with electrons, will produce ions that are then accelerated to produce thrust. The force isn't enough to propel a rocket out of the Earth's gravity, but it's way more effective for short bursts- meaning steering in space becomes a whole lot easier. Factor in its cost-efficiency (ion power not only produces more kinetic energy per electrical output in space than standard rockets, but they're solar-powered) and the technology is a perfect choice for future space travel of all kinds, government-sponsored, science-driven, and commercial, as well.

This specific innovation, in my opinion, could revolutionize 21st century space travel by permanently removing its dependence on gravitational orbit for transit. Think about the possibilities of exploration that open up when shuttles can travel away from Earth for short periods of time. Moreover, while it is true that ion energy works best in an environment like space, without other ionized particles, that doesn't leave out room to discover other applications for it here on the ground. The concept of using ionized energy itself is barely a century old, who knows what else we can learn from it?

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Detroit's dismal employment outlook received a sliver of hope recently, as GM North America announced its intention to begin a program that directly hires high school-level students from the industrial city for internship projects that range across the service and manufacturing spectrum.

The program, titled the GM Student Corps, will begin with 110 students overall, divided into teams of ten. They'll be given projects around the city involving community development and outreach, and will also learn career and budgeting skills designed to prepare them for a global economic environment. GM North America President Mark Ruess pitched the concept to GM CEO Dan Akerman, who approved the concept as long as the students were paid for their work; continuing GM's tradition of paid internships:

“We said hey, what’s the opportunity in the city in the summer? And there’s not a lot, as we all know...This will be the first job that a lot of these students have ever had that pays money.”

-Mark Ruess to Nathan Bomey Detroit Free Press, May 21, 2013

While the students vetted were provided through the United Way Network, mentors consist of sixty GM retirees, as well as student interns from the University of Detroit Mercy. GM will also provide the program with Chevrolet vehicles to transport students and mentors to project sites.

This is an idea that's long overdue. Long, long, long overdue. I could get political about it and rant that if we're going to be a society that distrusts government to the point of inhibiting its ability to invest in the youth for employment opportunities, then these are the types of programs that should be taking its place all over the country. But really, it goes beyond politics. The best kind of education is hands-on; students who take on various leadership roles throughout their communities always have a better chance at furthering employment prospects, because they are more adaptable and pliable than if the entirety of their learning experiences took place in the highly self-emphasizing vacuum of the academic bubble. GM is smartly making the best kind of investment-people- in their backyard. Sure, there's no guarantee these prospected students choose to keep their allegiance to the automobile giant (and Ruess emphasized they're free to list GM on their resumes, regardless). Nevertheless, if half of this group decides to stay in Detroit and apply what they learn from this program in other fields, it can only help the city's overall infrastructure, which will help GM as well. A win-win situation for everyone involved.

And this is only one company. If the model becomes successful, there's no better way for Detroit to repair itself economically than to incentivize its manufacturing community to invest in its student community. Or as Ruess himself says, "Imagine if we had five companies full-force....That's what happens with some of the seed ideas when you plant them."